Page 42 of Heartless

The seating arrangement is private and doesn’t give a perfect view of the bar or the dance floor in the other room. It’s more personal and designed for private conversations.

I don’t have any expectations of that tonight, but I don’t feel like being at the bar either. I’ve only been here fifteen minutes, and I’m on my second drink before I hear her voice behind me.

“It must be my lucky night,” she says in that raspy voice of hers.

I turn around, looking over my shoulder with a smile. “What makes you say that?”

“Running into you here of all places outside of work, it must mean something special,” she says, smiling. “Is this seat taken?”

“Reserved especially for you,” I find myself saying.

Her company is a welcome reprieve from my tormented thoughts.

“Oh?” she smiles and tilts her head to the side.

Sharla has grown even more beautiful with the passing years, and she’s now confident in her sexuality; something she didn’t possess in the past. I’m not sure why I notice these things because I shouldn’t.

She glances at my drink and pronounces promptly, “Rum and coke. The man has great taste.”

Tilting my glass to her and giving a subtle nod to the waiter, I reply, “Excellent taste.”

She smiles again as I turn to the waiter, “Please add whatever she would like to my tab.”

Sharla orders the same thing that I’m ordering.

“I’ve been thinking about you this week,” I say.

“Oh really,” she says, smiling at my drink and then unsubtly crossing her leg as her skirt hitches higher.

Clearing my throat, I reply, “We’ve done a wonderful job going global, but I’ve been considering expansion in a different direction.”

“I’m listening,” she says before sipping her drink.

“Someone propositioned me about building a hotel in Las Vegas. An architect drew up the designs. He wants to build it himself, but he needs backing. We’ve been talking about this for a few months, but it’s become more real as time passes. I’ve got the funds, and he’s got some of the money. Now, I need someone to pull together a team of people to work on this for me. We have our external consultants, but I’ll need various human resources from marketing, corporate solutions, financial services, property management, IT, sales, legal...”

“Asset management, capital market, leasing,” she finishes for me.

“Exactly. I need you to vet each person, and while I prefer to look internally for the members of this team, but if they’re not a good fit, then you can look outside of the company, too.”

“Wow! So, Neha...”

“Has her hands full with another project. I’ve discussed this with her already, and she’s impressed with the work that you’ve been doing.”

“So, was it her who suggested me?” I hear the disappointment in her voice.

“Yes, but I agreed with her wholeheartedly. I have no reservations about working with you on this project.”

“Good. I thought this was going to be difficult at first.”

“What’s that?”

“Us working together. I didn’t want you to underestimate the talents that I bring to the table just because of how things ended between us.”

“I’ll admit that I was tempted to at first, but I don’t operate that way. Not when it comes to business.”

“Good. So, to the beginning of a beautiful work collaborative?” Sharla says, holding her glass up.

“So beautiful,” I reply, clinking her glass and meeting her gaze over the rim of my glass as we drink.

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